Iditarod Heartache

Graveyard Of Dreams: Dashed Hopes And Shattered Aspirations Along Alaska’s Iditarod Trail by Craig Medred

There is nothing in the entire title of Craig Medred’s book that’s not grim. When any writer includes in a single line the language: “Graveyard … Dashed Hopes… Shattered Aspirations…” there is an expectation that we’ve got some pretty harrowing stories coming our way. And, while Medred definitely spends a bunch of time highlighting the mushers who experienced more failure than success in the 2010 Iditarod, he does not deliver on his promise—there is no “Graveyard of Dreams,” rather his readers are asked to endure a litany of failed dreams, a far cry from a nightmare.

For the most part, Medred relies upon summarizing Iditarod failures as compared to drilling down, elaborating upon the specifics of what created these nightmarish failures. Medred could have chosen to take the reader to the trail. Think about listening to a good ballgame. The announcer gives the listener enough details so that the fan feels like she’s there—in the booth, right next to the announcer. When the runner gets thrown out at the plate, you hear cleats tangling; you see the ump’s thumb slice thru the air—runner out. You’re there, not 3,000 miles away, listening to the game in your comfy chair. Thanks to the announcer’s polished expertise it’s as good as being there. Medred does not pull that off. His prose falls flat. It is not enough to help his readers envision a “Graveyard of Dreams.”

To be fair, there are instances when his journalistic skills rise to the occasion and he creates real moments for the reader—as he does here with Pat Moon. “Anything is possible right up until the moment it becomes impossible. Moon did not know it, but he was heading toward the impossible…Moon made it almost to Dalzell Creek before his sled encountered a tree big enough to do serious damage. A musher healthier and stronger than Moon might have been able to tilt the sled…Moon, however, wasn’t really in any condition to do that. He was more riding the sled than steering it…when the… impact and the sudden redirection of the sled slapped him head first into the spruce. He was knocked cold.”

Another strength fully on display are his race analyses which increase the readers’ understanding of some of the less apparent obstacles mushers confronted. One important factor that affects a musher’s planning is knowing the distance between one rest point and another. This is critical in determining when best to rest the team. These distances provided by race officials are not always accurate. This bad data may have cost John Baker the race. “The Iditarod’s official guide puts the distance from Ophir to Cripple at 62 miles, but it’s wrong…Various sources, citing GPS tracking data, now put the mileage to Cripple in the range of 75 to 80.” These wrong distances threw him for a loop. Baker, in the lead at that point, thought he had somehow gotten off the trail and had ridden past the Cripple checkpoint. A race official discovered “Baker hiking the wrong way on the trail…looking for the Iditarod Trail.” Needless to say, that side road trip cost him invaluable hours and led to placing fifth behind Lance Mackey.

Perhaps it’s fitting that one of the saddest stories, which belonged to a poet turned wannabe Iditarod finisher, is the best place to wrap this all up. Emil Churchin, a Canadian poet and Iditarod rookie had sacrificed it all to compete in the 2010 Iditarod. So, it was especially disheartening that he was forced to abandon the race after repeated attempts to motivate his team, muster up the will and strength to soldier on against the bitter, blizzard-like winds in the sub 40 below temps. “He was so far behind the rest of the mushers in the race…that he had two choices: He could scratch on his own, or he could be withdrawn. ‘Two years of my life and my money,’ he said. This is where I was going to turn around my life, and I failed. Every step of the way I knew everything I did wrong, and I did it again and again. It is the story of my life.”’

Ironically enough, if Medred had spent more time excavating stories like Churchin’s with its desolate and palpable despair, his book would have come much closer to delving into stories where we could better witness the “Dashed Hopes & Shattered Aspirations” of those mushers who fell by the wayside.